This invention relates to apparatus for cutting teeth in circular saw blades; and more particularly to a completely automatic apparatus for the fabrication of circular saw blades. The apparatus of this invention is an improvement of the apparatus described in a prior patent of the patentee, U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,356, issued Nov. 14, 1961.
A principal object of this invention is to provide apparatus for the fabrication of gin saw blades, or similar blades, where the operation is completely automatic.
Another object of this invention is to provide such apparatus which performs automatically all of the required steps, beginning with the removal of a blade blank from a magazine stack, and ending with the placing of the finished blade on a storage spindle.
A further object of this invention is to provide such apparatus which cuts the teeth of a gin saw blade with precision and with efficient speed.
Another object of this invention is to provide such apparatus having means for preventing damage to the apparatus, or to the saw blade blank, in the event of a mispositioning of the blank relative to the tooth cutting station.
These objects are accomplished in apparatus which comprises a frame and a vertical drive spindle rotatably mounted on said frame. A collet chuck is mounted at the upper end of the spindle for supporting and clamping a saw blade in a horizontal plane. A rotary cutter, having peripherally spaced, radially projecting teeth, is mounted for rotation on an axis tangential to a supported saw blade. The cutter coacts with dies disposed in the plane of the blade surface to cut the blade teeth. Means is provided for feeding the chuck transversely of its axis of rotation, into and out of cutting relation with the rotary cutter. A pneumatic actuator actuates the chuck to clamp and release a blade; and another pneumatic actuator feeds the collet chuck into and out of cutting relation with the rotary cutter. A plurality of cam operated pneumatic valves control the pneumatic actuators; and a plurality of cams are nonrotatably mounted on a cam shaft for controlling the pneumatic valves. Drive means is provided for driving the spindle, the rotary cutter, and the cam shaft at selected speeds relative to each other.
The novel features and the advantages of the invention as well as additional objects thereof, will be understood more fully from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.